Decorative designs are highly desired in clothing and accessories. These desires are often manifested in the latest styles and fads, which are constantly changing. New designs define the state of what is “in” at the moment. Keeping up with these changes often requires large investments in ever changing clothing such as the latest jeans, tops, sneakers, and other modes of dress. There is a “hip” trend of being individualistic while at the same time following the latest fad. Athletic shoes or sneakers have a particular cachet in terms of appearance and the latest “cool” features, which engender a proprietary identification of the wearer. Cottage industries have arisen with respect to sneakers. Therefore, there is a need for customizable, trendy footwear such as athletic shoes such as sneakers.
Certain customizable sneakers are known, such as, for example, the NIKEiD® line of custom made sneakers. These shoes; however, are unitary and unchangeable once a consumer selects the various elements of design. Further, these shoes are manufactured upon order, thus, delaying consumer receipt for several weeks. The cost may also be prohibitive, for either a single pair or multiple pairs to meet consumer desire for a current trend.
Other customizable sneakers may have pasted or painted on designs, which tend to peel off or fade, creating an unattractive appearance, or leave permanent residues on the footwear, which tend to discourage further changes.
Crocs® popular Jibbitz® charms are exemplary of removable items designed for and inserted into the existing proprietary ventilation holes on the uppers of Crocs® shoes. The Jibbitz® charms however require access to the shoe interior for removal and cannot be readily used with athletic shoes and sneakers of other types and manufacture. Since the Jibittz® charms require perforation in the shoes for attachment, they cannot be directly applied to unperforated shoes at all and are attached only as peripheral attachments, such as to shoelaces.
Other types of decorative elements have been suggested for indiscriminate direct attachment to all parts of shoes and sneakers, such as with zippered fasteners, fasteners placed directly on the shoe and the like. These embodiments generally involve replacement of entire sections of the shoe rather than design elements in context or even replacement of the appearance of the entire shoe. In addition, instead of enhancing appearance, such expedients actually often provide a slipshod and unaesthetic look when the shoe is actually worn and used.
Foot pronation or movement of the foot during walking, striding, or running requires flexing of the foot-containing shoe or sneaker (heel to toe and possible left and right deviations) to accommodate it and this results in a comfortable fit. As a result, nearly all parts of the shoe or sneaker are subject to bending and stretching stresses, with particular stress on the entire front segment of the shoe or sneaker to accommodate toe bending and flexing. The stress on the sides of the shoe or sneaker is particularly pronounced in wearers who have left or right pronation with corresponding ankle movement.
As a result, decorative covers and elements removably placed in such stress sections are subject to a number of decorative and operational problems. Soft and flexible decorative covers are subject to unsightly crinkling and creasing and hard decorative covers are subject to cracking or breakage. In addition, soft decorative covers, which can move, can become unacceptably difficult to properly fasten to the shoe. On the other hand, if the decorative covers are sufficiently hard enough to resist breakage they also restrict and uncomfortably bind foot movement. Furthermore, unless the decorative elements are stitched or are otherwise non-removably tightly bound to the shoe or sneaker, normal use will often tend to spontaneously cause the decorative element to become partially or completely detached from the shoe or sneaker in an unsightly manner.
Aside from the above problems, various types of removable fasteners, potentially usable with removable decorative members, have further systemic and operational problems with respect to use in detachable attachment of decorative covers or elements to a substrate such as a shoe. Thus, a problem with some fasteners such as zippers is that they either provide an unsightly visible appearance or, if hidden, result in bulky increased height, which detracts from an aesthetic uniform appearance (i.e., the decorative elements look added on rather than as integral parts of the shoe).
Magnetic fasteners used in opposing pairs, while potentially the most secure of removable fasteners (depending on magnetic strength) for use with decorative elements, are beset by problems of fragility, high cost, general planar configuration (i.e., lesser amenability to conform to shoe curvature for magnet to magnet connection) interference with electronic devices such as mp3 players, cell phones, pacemakers and magnetic media such as credit and ID cards especially in the high powered form necessary to function as fasteners. In some countries governmental regulations limit the gaussian strength of worn magnets to less than that necessary to keep the decorative elements in place under stress. This can lead to possible separation movement.
Multiple hidden small interlocking fasteners, such as snap fasteners, are less costly and have lesser bulk. However, for proper aesthetic use they require a constant and consistent registration between a decorative cover element and the shoe or sneaker, to which such fasteners are attached, for appropriate multiple attachment of the snaps. However, such registration is often disrupted by shoe or sneaker distortion in stress areas, when used. Furthermore, metal snap fasteners are difficult to incorporate in multiple number, into footwear and are either not configured in general applications for strong holding or are designed for non-removable one time use.
An additional problem with multiple fasteners which must be aligned, is that shoes or sneakers are initially constructed by use of a manual lasting process in which the uppers in the same shoes or sneakers, made in a production line, are stretched with variations in materials such as leather almost invariably, at least minimally, result in some deviation from each other. While such deviations are not normally noticeable they are nevertheless sufficient to disrupt alignment of interlocking fastener engagement from shoe to shoe or from sneaker to sneaker.
There is a need for customizable footwear with high quality aesthetically appearing interchangeable decorative members or other changeable modifications or accessories, allowing the consumer to make multiple desired fashion statements. However, such interchangeable decorative members and footwear need to be both manufacturable and viably and attractively utilizable.